Hannah Hoch: A Familiar Struggle, A Unique Point of View
Viki D. Thompson Wyltler
Mos1 art his1orical discussions of the Berlin Dada remarks about her male Berlin Dadaist colleagues have movernenl (ca. 1918- 1922) have conjured visions of, nurtured a slowly deepening interest in her career, provid among others, Johannes Baader. Wieland Herzfelde, John ing 1he beginning of a somewhat different picture of some Heartfield, Richard Huelsenbeck, George Grosz, or Raoul of the 01her Berl in Dadaists. Her own words coupled with a Hausmann as 1hey sarcastically. enthusiastically, even variously motivated bul rekindled interest in her artwork wildly flou1cd the system. 1l1ey have been described as have resulted in the understanding that Hannah Hoch shocking and 1aun1ing lhe Berlin art world and its public possessed a unique poin1 of view as the female voice and in10 a new image of itself. The often favorable rccollcc1ions vision in this male-dominated movement. 8 of 1hosc aggressive assaults on lhe complacencies of ac Joining 1he Dada movement in Berli n in 1918, Hoch cepted \\llstem tradition have created the impression of had originally come 10 the city in 1912 at !he age of 23 to Berlin as an artistic battleground. The auempted destruction study art. Leaving her home town of Goth a, she had of 1raditional art has been seen as parallel and in reaction 10 enrolled at the School of Aris and Crafts (Kunstgewer the unhealthy political climate in Berlin at the time: it has beschule) and also had studied with lhe ar1is1 Emil Orlik. In also been viewed as rcla1ed 10 lhe destruction of people and 1915 at age 26, she met Raoul Hausmann with whom she property during World \½Ir I. However, the Dada forces of became involved personally and artistically for the next anti-art have also been described as containing inherent seven years. About the same time as the adoption of !he hope. the desire to build a new ari upon the destruction of Dadaist program. apparently triggered by Huclsenbeck 's the old. return to Berlin from the activities at the Cafe \-bltairc in Usually the composite picture of the Berlin Dadaists Zurich, she, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, George has been made to look like a loosely assembled but noble, Grosz. and Johannes Baader began 10 experiment wilh and well-meaning group of art guerillas achieving a kind of expand a new technique, photomontage.9 Hoch and victory with male artists using demanding, confrontive. and Hausmann have separately given reminiscences of coming aggressive 'masculine' tactics. In the pa..~t twenty-five years, upon !he genesis for photomontage. the "military me however, tentative changes in that picture have surfaced. mento,··•• photographs done for the soldiers of the Prussian As a result of !he rise of feminist scholarship, attention army in which the photographed heads of the soldiers were has been focused on the all-bu1-forgo11en history of female superimposed on a grandiose scene." In 1919 and 1920 artists. ' In particular !his emphasis has helped to tip the Hoch exhibited in the First Berlin Dada Exhibition and the ,cale in favor of a renewed assessmcn12 of the work, li fe, First Dada International Fair (Figure I). 12 In 1922 the Berlin .rnd tactics of Hannah Hoch, tl1e female Berlin Dadaist,' an Dadaist panicipants began to degroup. During !his period 1rtis1 generally mentioned briefly and secondarily in most Hoch not only broke from her relationship wilh Hausmann. discussions of 1he period. The women 's movement has not but began "to try [her] hand at ·Mcr,bilder' ... , the san1c been the sole catalys1 for !his growing interest in Hoch. kind of collage as those of [her) friend Schwi11ers. " 13 Although it has been the mos1 recent influence, the late Appearances have sugges1ed lha1 Hannah Hoch fol fi fties and early sixties began a renewed and continuing' lowed Raoul Hausmann into tbe rebellious world of Dada, m1eres1 in Dadaism itself. Kenneth Couns-Smith reasoned and citations like Rich1cr's off-hand reference to Hausmann in 1970 in his book Dada that review of 1his historical art as HOCh's mentor in Dadd, A11 tmd Anti-Ar1 1" have ex movement was partially due to parallels in the political tended into the twentieth century 1he now-familiar adage climate be1wecn the post World 'l½r I era (especially in referred 10 in Greer's The Obstacle Race. Greer's observa Germany) and the intcmational situation in the mid-fifties tion was that "women who made names for themselves as after %rid War 11: Cou11s-Smi1h referred to .. ,he Korean painters before the nine1cen1h century ... were related to War. the Bomb. and .. . Kruschev's revelations at the 20th belier-known male painters.... " 15 Although Greer was Party Congress in 1956 ...... , The ari work of the 1imc speaking predominantly of daugh1ers, the relationship occa from Rauschenburg, Cage. Tinguely. Klein, e l al., reflected sionally extended to wives. even a sister-in-law, and cer the look backward,6 and so did art criticism. tainly to students of recognized masters. 16 As the nineteenth Edouard Roditi ·s interview with Hannah Hoch ap century approached, "love·· relationships between male and peared in 1959 in Arts Ma&azine. Roditi 's motive was his female artist~ began 10 replace the older associations. These intcres1 in the over-all Berlin Dada scene and 1he fact !hat new connections did or did not end in marriage. 17 Nev Hoch owned a "unique collection of documents and relics ertheless, for women a traditional method of entry into the of the heyday of 1he Berlin Dada movement. .. To him she art world had apparently been established lhrough a male •aJone seem[ed] to possess enough of this material to liaison and this in turn had and has affected lhe public 's be able 10 look back on the whole movement objcc- view of 1he female ·s professional artistic activity as well. 1ively.... ·· 7 Although Roditi ·s interest in Hoch 's work Examples of well-known art couples of the twentieth seemed subordinated, her sometimes surprising and candid century have included Gabrielle Munter and \Vassily Kan- JJ dinsky, Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Sophie Tauber and ranking government pos1t1on. albeit assuming what now Hans Arp, Sonia Terk and Roben Delaunay, Lee Krasner seems a role connected with the traditional women's sphere, and Jackson Pollock. Commissar of Social \¼!I fare; in addition, Che Berlin Unlike several of che oeher women in these famous Dadaists openly sided witl1 the Communist party, were e,•en couple relationships, for inscancc Muncer or Krasner, who known as "Cultural Bolshevists. "24 actually assisccd in the overshadowing process Chrough !heir Several Berlin Dadaists, John Heartfield. Wieland own devotion co their husband's/lover's work and repuca Herzfelde, and George Grosz, joined the Communist pany, tions, Hoch did not; she continued in her relationship with John Heanfield receiving honors from East Germany after Hausmann for only seven years. After leaving him, she Y.brld \¼r II. Alehough Hcrzfelde and Hcartfield were the never struck up such a relationship again. Her connections only two who remained communists, the first Dada exhibi with other male colleagues seemed strictly friendship, her tion in 1919 cenainly identified the Berl in Dadaist move association with Schwiners a case in point. Hoch had come ment as such. They exhibited "subversive slogans" like to Berlin alone, against her faeher's objections, co attend art "Dada stands on the side of the revolutionary Proletariat" or school. She may have played Che hostess role ac Hausmann 's "Dada is the voluntary desc.ruction of the bourgeois world of soirees, according to Hans Richcer·s recollections, 1• but her ideas. "25 ocher accions bespoke an indepcndenc spiric. In Che 1959 In Prance in 1906 these years of female upheaval and interview with Roditi she complained, "Mose of our male progress also produced a Recrospective Exposition of colleagues concinued for a long while to look upon us Female An about which an anicle was printed in 1he [speaking also of Munter] as charming and gifted amateurs, Gazette des 8 ea11x Am in 1908. As Greer pointed out in The denying us implicitly any real professional scacus. " Obswc/e Race. this exhibit did not suddenly create a However, she gave high marks co Schwitters and Hans Arp widespread uneanhing and knowledge of Che history of as "rare examples of the kind of anist who can really treat a women's an,2• but ic cenainly would have added 10 the woman as a colleague. "' 9 Significantly. Hausmann was noc general societal factors of the time perhaps contributing 10 praised for this ability. the attitude of Hannah Hoch. and to the slowly growing These statements have seemed within a current context acceptance of and expectation that a female could be an to sound a fenlinist note. Although in the interview she also artist in her own right. In Chis vein. Hoch created collages frankly appraised her own more advanced development in using ·•women's" materials, sewing items, lace, pho 1915 in comparison to Hausmann ("But Hausmann re tographs from fashion magazines, for instance Tailor's mained until 1916 a figurative Expressionist . . whereas I Flower (Sclmeiderblume). 1920. as well as works fully had already begun in 1915 co design and paint abstract exploring the psychology of a woman's position within compositions. . . ")20 and although she described Che \¼:stem culture, among others, Dada-Dance (Dada-Ta11:). Dadaist activity wich herself as a participant, not simply as a 1919- 21, 8011rgeois Wedding. 1920, La Mere. 1925. With sideline supponer of Hausmann, she did not acknowledge these works she added to 1he new atmosphere and to the here or later 21 any feminist inspiration for her independent nascent definition of a female point of view in art . behavior. lndireclly the incemational climace of the era may Yet Hoch would have been as susceptible as any female have affec-ted her decisions and work. artist then or now to the overwhelmingly dominant role The firsc two decades of the twentieth century brought given 10 men in art history. Greer's s1atcmen1 about women great change for women in the Uniced States and Europe. anists in general would have cenainly applied. "The an she Expec,tations concerning women's work and women's rights is attracted to is the anistic expression of men: given the were in flux. Organized suffragistS on both sides of the . .. orientation of an history she is not likely to have seen Atlantic agitated for a new independent view of women: by much women's work and less likely to have re,~ponded to 1920 their politicism culminated in women achieving the it. "27 Under the circumstances, Hoch would have "nacu right to vote in over twenty countries. World War I also rally" joined a group of arcists whether living with brought new international women's organi1..ations into exiS• Hausmann or not. The group was male as were most artists. tence such as the Women ·s International League for Peace That Hoch, upon leaving Hausmann, continued co work and Preedom which met in Zurich in 1919. As Hoch herself and associated with Schwiners and lacer the De Stijl group intriguingly revealed, tl1c Dadaists were "in close sympathy in Holland wiehout a romancic relationship with any of these with ocher pacifists. "22 A study by Mary Roth w.tlsh men would attest to her career involvement. concerning women 's entry into the medical profession in Che Within this group of male Dadaiscs, Hoch apparently United States has shown Chat women ·s non-traditional struggled to overcome the prevailing attitudes of her col pursuits have been affected and enhanced during periods of leagues, 10 make her own imprint. In the interview in 1959 greatest unified agitation whether or not individual women she told Roditi, "Thiny years ago, it was not very easy fora have aligned Chcmselvcs with or espoused consciously the woman 10 impose herself as a modem anist in Gennany. .. ,. ideas of the movement." She, as already mentioned, also spoke of these colleagues· Significantly, international communism sought female view of her as an amateur, Schwitters and Arp given as suppon through the adoption of a pla1forn1 of equality notable exceptions. Hans Richter, a more peripheral figure between the sexes. Various women's conferences, soviets, of Che Berlin Dada group (usually considered part of 1he and assoned meetings were organized. In 1913 Lenin Zurich group) unintentionally supponed Hoch ·s charges by suggested the establishment of the magazine The Woman giving a description of her and her work in his book. Dada. U'i',rker (Rabotnitsa) for which his sister became the editor. Art and Anti-Art. Krupskaya. Lenin's wife, played an active role within the pany and in 1917 after the October Revolution , Alexandra But how did Hannah Hoech, a quiet girl from Kollontai, a long-time and well-known agitator for Che liule town of Gotha, a model Orlik pupil, women's rights within conununist circles, took a high- come co be involved in the decidedly 1111quiec ;, Berlin Dada movement? At the first Dada shows "little girl" became equivalent factors in his statement. A in Berlin she only contributed collages. Her tiny collage completed in 1920 at the height of Berlin Dada voice would only have been drowned by the roars political satirism and hi-jinks was Titilor's Flower (Figure of her masculine colleagues. But when she came 2)31 an affirmation of the power of the everyday concerns 10 preside over gatherings in Hausmann 's studio with which many women of the era were involved. Using she quickly made herself indispensable, both for cut-out clothing pattern marks, cloth, zippers. snaps, and the sharp contrast between her slightly nun-like fasteners she dared 10 make the items from women's grace and the heavyweight challenge presented by common pursuits the subject and elements of a fine an her mentor. and for the sandwiches, beer and experience. In the very center of the composition she placed coffee she managed somehow to conjure up the cut-our image of a flower, a common symbol of despite the shonage of money. femininity. Richter's observation that "when Hausmann On such evenings she was able to make her proclaimed the doctrine of anti-an, she spoke up for an and small. precise voice heard. When Hausmann for Hannah Hoch" would be amply supponed by such work proclaimed the doctrine of anti-an. she spoke up as Tailor's Flower. Though the materials might have been for an and for Hannah Hoech. A good girl. considered anti-an, the intent and message were fonhrightly Her collages were sometimes political (every positive. one was in the line of baule), sometimes docu Also implied in this pro-an statement was Hannah's mentary (she put all the Berlin Dadaists and their understanding of the optimism contained in tl1e nihilist friends , in significant altitudes, into an immense works and acts of Berlin Dada. Accordingly her penetrating collage which is now in the Dahlem An Gallery, focus on human relationships and psychology in such works Berlin), sometimes lyrical (little girl that she as Bourgeois Wedding, a watercolor from 1920, and slightly was). At exhibitions and readings she would tum later works like The Coq11e11e (Die Koke11e). a collage from up and the earnestness of her nature would lend 1923 , or 7ivo Heads (Zwei Kopfe), an oil painting from weight to her tiny voice.29 1926, not only worked as exposes of problems in human communication but in so doing obviously asked for solu Fonunately this loaded description has given enough tions. The "earnestness" of this work, like the "earnestness information that the perceptive reader could decipher a of her nature" supersede Richter's description of a "tiny more objective and realistic view of the "good girl." voice." Within this prejudiced environment that the voice Hannah, and her work. For instance, as stated, Hoch was heard. no matter how patronizingly described, con contributed "only collages" to the exhibition, but in reality noted real strength. collage was an avant-garde experimental an form undergo According to Hoch ·s IC-~timony (Roditi interview) she ing development at the time. Picasso, the first 10 use collage seemed to have had enough strength for two. for herself and in Still Life with Chair Caning bad made his tentative for Hausmann: "Poor Raoul was always a restless spirit. He beginnings in 1912 only seven years before the first Berlin needed constant encouragement in order to be able to carry Dada exhibit. A quick look at some examples of her oeuvre out his ideas and achieve anything at all lasting. If I hadn ·1 from this era- Dada Dance, 1919-21, Tailor's Flower, devoted much of my time 10 looking after him and encour 1920, Da-Dtmdy, 1919, Collage. 1920, The Pre11y Young aging him, I might have achieved more myself. Ever since Wo111a11 (Das Schone Madchen), 1920, Dada-Ernst, L920- we paned, Hausmann has found it very difficult to create or have shown that her effons in this new an fonnat had not impose himself as an anist. ... "32 only reached a high stage of development but that she had These statements have called into question the familiar whole-heanedly embraced an even newer medium, photo view of the psychology and motivations of this leader of the montage. One of her works shown at the first Berlin Dada aggressive Berlin Dada pack while adding considerable Exhibition, Cur with a Kitchen Knife, was a rather large speculation to the imponance of her position within the '44¼" x 35¼") and complex example of a political group. The situation and its implications seemed to be photomontage . Seen in a photograph of that exhibition, this expressed in a 1926 Hoch phoromontage Vagabond (Vag work was larger than most hung near it, only one or two bunde11). Figure 3. In this work she placed two unusual others approximating its size; of the fifteen works shown in figures walking forward down a road, a female figu re in the whole or in pan in the photograph, all seemed to have been foreground, head turned in profile to look back at a male examples of collage/photomontage. ligurc, a vagabond, whom she is leading and whose hand Such work would also emphasize Richter's statement she holds. Hoch placed the male ·s head in a three-quaner that her collages were sometimes political, actually a rather view 10 the side, smiling. dawdling. seeming to hold the defiant product for a "good girl" 10 have produced in the female figure back. Within the composition, the female's repressive political ahllosphere of Berlin. In a later para head emerged as the dominant fomi. large, watchful, and graph, Richter pointed our her joint responsibility for serious, with one oversized eye looking straight ahead creating and hanging from the ceiling of the 1920 First though the other, unseen, must be keeping iL~ ga1.e on her International Dada Fair a blatantly defiant effigy, a stuffed companion. Clearly Hoch saw the female figure as the Gennan officer's suit topped off with a pig's head and leader in this ponrayed relationship, her intellectual power labeled with the words , "Hanged by the Revolution. "30 and vision enough to take both figures forward. Yet, Most imponanrly Hoch seemed 10 have felt secure curiously, the male is still the focus of the title. enough to follow her own bent even if it did not adhere These observations on the Hoch/Hausmann rela strictly to the Dadaist program. that is, as Richter said, tionship have also provided an interesting context for the having made some work "more lyrical." Underlying claims by Raoul Hausmann that he, and he alone, dis Richter·s value judgment was a semi-conscious reference to covered/invented the photomonragc technique. Writing feminine or female clements in her work since "lyrical" and about the experience he eagerly quashed rivals to that claim.
.15 .. Bui ii was on 1he occasion of a visil 10 the feeling crea1ed. The underlying message in both was Bailie seacoas1, on 1he island of Usedom, in the primarily judgmental expressed by Hausmann 's rather vio li1tle village of Heidebrink, 1hat I conceived the lently imposed experimen1ation with materials and arrange idea of pho1omontage. On lhe wall of almos1 ment, in tum expressing his opinion about an and 1he every house was a colored lilhograph depic1ing socie1y. lhe image of a grenadier agains1 a background of From the Dada era 1ypical works for Hoch have barracks. To make 1his mili1ary memen10 more included the photomontages Dada-Da11ce, 1919- 21, Figure personal, a photographic portrail of a soldier had 4, andThePreuy Yo1111g Woman. 1920, Figure 5. ln contrast been used in place of the head. This was like a 10 Hausmann's work, Hoch's primary figures were female stroke of lightning, one could-I saw ii in but affec1ed by male elemen1s. In Datla-Da11ce 1he fashion stan1ly-make 1x1i111i11gs entirely composed of able female figure on the lef1 was topped by a very small cu1-ou1 pho1ographs. On re1uming 10 Berlin in male-looking Negroid head with screwed facial features. In September, I began 10 realize 1his new vision by The Prerry You11g Woma11 machine parts generally associated using pho1os from magazines and the movies. wi1h male culture predominated. A large hand with a Captured by a renovating zeal, I also needed a dangling wa1ch was posi1ioned to the side. Although some name for this technique. and in general agreement of her work like New York, done about 1922, was given an with George Grosz, John Hcartfield, Johannes undeviating rectilinear quality, more typical were the often Baader, and Hannah Hoch, we decided 10 call predominantly curvilinear works in contrast to Hausmann 's these works photomontages . ... compositions. In The Prelfy Yo1111g Woman the roundness of Such is the history of the discovery of photo the watch and wheel, BMW emblems, body and gear pans montage; Johannes Baader and Hannah Hoch, in overwhelmed 1he photomontage. The ou1line of 1he ligh1 particular, employed and popularized lhe new bulb and the sweeping organic curves of 1he woman's gian1 technique; Grosz and Heartfield, too 1aken with coiffure were made focal. In Dada-Da11ce lhe falling and their caricaturis1ic ideas, remained faithful to draping malerial folds of the women's fashions were re collage un1il 1920_33 peated in lhe machine-made curve of objects on which their very large, eleganlly-clad feel were placed (or on which Hausmann considered (and they have also been given they danced). These stn,ctural lines were mean! to pull lhe credit by art hislorians) his rivals to the invention of viewer in10 the composi1ion and into lhe underlying psycho photomontage to be Grosz and Heartfield; perhaps he also logical realities of lhe world !hey described. Thus 1he considered Hoch or Baader as possible rivals. viewer was no1 meant to be shocked due to the violence of Richter reponed in Dada, Arr a11d Ami-Art tha1 Hoch the anis1 's trea1ment/opinion bu1 shocked by his/her own had also told him lhe story, that she traveled with Hausmann unders1anding due 10 Hoch 's revelations via her atypical on the holiday described, though Hausmann in his version means. neglec1ed to men1ion 1hat Hannah accompanied him. In her Besides being inlended as poli1ical. an1i-indus1rial/ version, inspiration for the discovery tha1 struck like light an1i-bourgeois s1a1ements, lhese 1wo works by Hoch were ning hung "on 1he wall in front of !heir bed."" Thus indicative of her point of view as a female, her knowledge recently some art hislorians have voiced lhe belief 1hat she of 1he condi1ions and psychological currents wi1hin lha1 half co-discovered/inven1ed pho1omon1age." She con1inued to of culture that is female. They in pan expressed an insider's use pho1omontage for the rest of her life, and also con1inued ambivalence. the auraction and repulsion often inherenl 10 pain!. wi1hin 1he trappings of female culture. Ln Dada-Dance nol During the Berl in Dada days Hausmann, "the restless only the formal compositional lines but lhe subject matter spiril. " devo1ed himself to a wide range of activity includ were intended 10 initially aurac1. The beautiful feel and legs ing publishing (several Dada journals), literature (sound were meant 10 be noticed firs1, !hen lhe svelte fa~hion lines poetry), Dada evcn1s (somewha1 like 1he '60s 'happenings'), of the figure on 1he lef1, or the 1an1alizing ruffles and lush and 1he visual ans (mainly collage, some assemblage. and folded fabric of the lifted skin of the figure on 1he righ1. pho1omon1age). Following the demise of his relationship Secondarily the 1wis1ings and sirange size relations of body with Hoch he narrowed his focus to poetry and photogra pans revealed 1hcm as defonna1ions from nanire. The phy. In the visual arts a prototypical Hausmann work would pulled and out-of-focus head of lhe righ1 figure was placed da1e from the Dada era and migh1 be a piece like Gurk. a emerging lhrough the fluff of COSIUJne, lhe head of lhe lcfl collage from 1918- 19, a male head constructed of glued female figure, very small, Negroid, male-looking, con newspaper pieces, or [,' Esprir de Noire Temps. an as toned in anger, disgust. even pain. emerging as focal. semblage from about 1921, a male dummy head with Dada-Dtmce, in Hoch 's hands, becan1e in part an unveiling incongn,ous objects auached including a ruler, a wallc1, and of the realities of female fashion and indica1ive of ii, a collapsible drinking cup. Both heads, though one is two imponance in female hehavior and pos1uring. and lhe other is three-dimensional, had fea1ures in common. In The Prerry Yo1111g Woman Hoch exhibi1ed similar In bolh Hausmann emphasized geometric elements, straigh1 concerns. Here a beautiful head of hair lopped a dark space. lines, angles. The impression crea1ed was one of attack. In Placed 10 ligh1 the space was a bulb s1rategically held in the Gurk, some angles of cu1-ou1 newsprint were slashed across young woman's lef1 hand. The lever, gears. wheel, and cheeks and forehead appearing aggressively applied ralher BMW emblems collaged around her per1 figure were used 10 than as elemems used to build fom1. In lhe assemblage 1he show her as pan of a machine only se1 to activate or ligh1-up juning object~ appeared clamped to 1he dummy's head al the turn of the lever. In addition 1he watch dangling to 1he giving the same impression. in this case resulting in a sense side seemed in1ended to carry several rela1ed messages. Not of discomfon and developing a tension from 1he incongrui1y only was 1his woman/machine 1imed 10 activate/1hink wilh of 1he placid, lifeless exprcs.~ion on the face and lhe overall 1he tum of the lever but lime ·s passage would also cenainly
.16 change the status and appearance of this young woman. time, keeping, however, in spite of time ·s imposed age-old She, like a BMW. could wear out, could be j unked . Hoch or old-age mask. one beautiful original eye and the original not onJy turned a woman into a machine , just as machines, mouth, their look and feel imbuing the mother with her especially vehicles, have been frequently referred 10 an continuing ability 10 sec and talk reality but informed with thropomorphically as female. but unveiled the dangers for her life ·s experience. In the end, Heanfield's view was from women in that line of thinking. the male perspective, i1s emphasis not only on a call for Hoch continued in other works to deal with issues from mothers· action but in a way the blaming of mothers for war the female perspective. Examples included Bourgeois Hi-d and their sons' dea1hs. Hoch ·s view was an intense and ding, a 1920 watercolor. Within a cubistically askew city revealing psychological exploration of the world of moth scape of church and house facades, she set the bride and erhood. an understanding by someone with the potential 10 groom. the bride presented as a larger-than-the-groom be a 1i101her herself. tailor's dummy. From the roots of her Berlin Dada days she The concerns of Hoch 's Dadaist work have continued continued to pursue the theme. In 1926 she painted 7ivo as contemporary concerns, high among them, of course, the Heads in which a male and a female automaton face each implicit concern for the role and values of women, of the other. their gazes not meeting. Their rigid positions were female anist. Her struggle to assen her own integrity and expressed also by the shapes which formed their mouths, view within a group of male anists has now transferred 10 his rounded. abstract, hers in the shape of a newborn. ln the an historical process. ln a 1977 John Gruen survey and 1930 she produced a terrifying psychological ponrait in article for An News titled "Far from the Last Judgmenls or Young German Woman (Demches Madchen), Figure 6, by Who's Overrated Now? and Underrated ... Hannah Hoch disregarding everything but the strangely assembled face. was "nominated for stardom "37 by the an critic for 7ime A truly instructive example in this vein emerged in magazine as well as the Director of Drawings at the 1925 with the photomontage la Mere, Figure 7. In retro Museum of Modern Art. Ann Sutherland Harris in her ,pect the difference in her point of view was also heightened posi1ion as Chair for Academic Affairs at the Metropolitan by John Hean field's treatment of the identical photograph in Museum of An suggested in the same article a continuing l;f()//ters, l et Your Sons lfre done five years later in 1930.36 problem in j udgmental calls within art historical circles, Unlike Hoch. Heartfield directed the viewer past the writing .. . most male anists of the past 75 ) I Thc.,c well- known books :unong others have tackled 1his issue: Ger 11 From her point of view, see Roditi. 26 al'ld H.ans Richtc-r. f'>t,da, An n111.J mafae Greer. Tiu! Obstacle Ra<"e. Thr Fommrs of HW114!'11 Pnimrrs and Allli•Af1 (New Y0rk: McGraw-Hill. 1965), p. 117. For his poinl of view nieir HWk (New York: f armr. Slraus. Giroux, 1979): Ann Sutherland :ice. Hausmann. p. 61. Harris atid Linda Nochlin, lfV','nen Artis,s: l550-/9JO (New "t'oft.: Alfred A. Knopf. 1976). 12 The dalt.S for lhc.~ 1wo cxhibi1ions aod their contents have been variously gi\'en in the literature. the 1919 exhibition seemingly rnis- 2 John Gruen. ..Fa r from Last Judgments or Who's 0\'CIT3tcd Now? and 1al:.en for the 1920exhibition or vice versa. For ex.ample Lippud cited a Underrated.·· Ari News 16 (November 1977): 106-120. communill banner on display al the 1920 exhibition while i{odi ri (and HOCh) placed the slogan on lhe banner al the 1919 exhibition. Although 3 FOT mcn1ion or anoLhcr woman. Dce1jcn. conllCCled wiLh the Berlin the possibility e.xi.st~ that many of the same works were exhibited al Dada.is.is. sec Edouard Roditi. "lnter\'icw with Hannah HOCh." Arts both 1imes. if so 1his has not bceti made clear. Ma.~n:.int- 34 (Oeccmber 1959): 27. 13 Rodi1i. p. 27. 4 Lu~~)' R. Lippard ...Dada in Berlin: Uofonunately S1ill 1imcly. ·· An;,, AmlliNJ 66 (March J978): 107- 111. 14 Richter. p. 132. 5 Kenneth Couns.-Smith, {)1,d" (Gre.11 Britaiti: Studio Vista Limited, 15 Greer. p. 12. 1970). p. 143. 16 Creer. pp. 12- 35. Also the mooograms on Marie Guilleme Benoist. 6 Coou~~Smith, pp. 148- 163. Consrn.ncc Charpentier, Marguerite Gerard. Jeanne Philibcnc Ledoux. and Judith Leyster by I-Ian-is aod Nochlin arc instructive as examples. 1 Roditi, p. 26. 17 Greer, pp. 36-67. 8 Lippard. p. 110. 18 Richter, p. 132. 9 Raoul Hausmann. .. New Pain1ing and Phoco Montage ... Onda.f on Ar,, ed. Lucy R. 1..ippard (Englewood Cliffs: Prc-nricc Hall. 1971). p. 61. 19 Roclili. p. 29. 10 113iul>mann. p. 61. 20 Rodi1i. p. 24. Jl 21 Harrii :11nd NoehUn, p. 308. N()('hlin. "ho "rote lhe Hoch monogram. 28 Rodili, p. 29. cited the c:11:alog from a 1976 exhibition or HOCh ·s wort that was unavailable to me: PMis. Musle d"Art Modeme, and &rhn, Na• 29 Rkhccr. p. 132. 1ionalgalcrie. Ha,1nah HOeh, <·ollagt•s. pti11t11rc-s. 24 Rodi1i, p. 24. 36 Munucla Hoelterhoff. "Hcartficld's Contempt." Art Fomm 15 (NO\'<'.nlt,tt 1976): 62. In 1hi> 111.idc the author also com~ the two 25 Roditi, p. 26. phou:,cnontagcs "ilh ,uy diffttt.m emphasis and conclu,i,ons. 26 Greet, pp. 1- 2. 37 Gru 27 Orce-r. 1> . 32.5. 38 Gruen, p. 112. Bibliography Hocllerhoff. Manuela. "Heartfield's Contempt." Art Fomm 15 (November 1976): 58-65. Ades. Dawn. Dac/aism anti Surrealism Revie,ved. Arts Lippard. Lucy R. "Dada in Berlin: Unfortunately Still Council of Great Britain. 1978. Timely, .. Art i11 Americ11 66 (March 1978): 107- 111. Cou11s-Srnith, Kenneth. Dada. Great Britain: Studio Vista, Murdock. Robert M., cumtor. Berli11/Hn11m•er: the J920's. Limited. 1970. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1977. Greer. Gem,aine. The Obsmcle Race, the For111111•s of Richter. Hans. Dada, Art a11d Ami-Art. New York: IV0111c11 Paimers 011d Their ll~rk. New York: Fanar, McGraw-Hill. 1965. S1rnus. Giroux, 1979. Roditi. E. "Interview with Hannah Hoch ," Arts Magal,i11e Gruen, John. "Far from la>t Judgments or Who's Over 34 (December 1959): 24-29. rated Now? and Underrated." Art News 76 (November Russell, J. "Berliner Tompo in London," Art News 65 1977): 106-120. (March 1966): 70. Harris. Ann Sutherland and Linda Nochlin. Wome11 A11ists: Sheppard. Richard, ed. New S111dies i11 Dada. Essays and /550- 1950. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1976. Doc11111e111s. Driffield, England: Hu11011 Press Ltd .. 1981. Hausmann. Raoul. "New Painting and Photomontage." \½lsh. Mary Roth. Doctors Wamed, Na Wome11 Need Dadas 0,1 Art. ed. Lucy R. Lippard. Englewood Cliffs: Apply. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. Prentice Hall. 1971. J8 ., -....___ -(l..lf .,..,.. .._, , ...... --- ...... ---- I Die Kunst ist tot Es lebe die neue l'ttaschinenkunst TATLI~ S Figure I, Hanna Hoch and Raoul Hausmann al 1hc Firs1 Berlin Dada Exhibi1ion, 1919 (Rodi1i. p. 25; op. cit. n. 3). 39 I• ... • r< • i,,. e .•I ' « I 'I i • • ( I I. • I • '1 I • • Il I. - • ~ • >< • - • Figure 2, Hannah Hoch, Tailor's Flower. 1920 (Harris and Nocblin, p. 306; op. ci1. n. I). J • ,,, ftlr 1nf4ull>IM :U.rmcictflaOff Figure 3. Hanna Hoch, Vagabond, 1926 (Ades, Dawn. Figure 4 , Hannah Hoch, Dada Dance, 1922 (Coutts-Smith. Dadaism 1111d Surrealism Reviewed. Arts Council of Great p. 92; op. cit. n. 5). Britain, 1978, p. 100). 40 Figure 5. Hannah Hoch. Preuy Young Woman. 1920 (Lip pard. p. 107; op. cir. n. 4). Figure 6, Hannah Hoch. Young German Woman , 1930 (Ncidcl. Heinz. "Welstadtsinfonie." Du 5 (1984): 92. p. 92). I Figure 7. Hannah Hoch. lA Mere. ca. 1925 (Hoeltcrhoff, p. ()(): 0//, cil. n. 36). 4/